The entire nation balanced precariously on the brink of a devastating war, each side clinging stubbornly to political and moral ideals. Some men and women, compelled by principles of freedom as old as the human race, risked everything in order to protect people considered to be less than human people who could be bought and sold at the whim of their masters. This protective movement came to be called the Underground Railroad.

The Silver Highway introduces Alexander Duncan while returning to the characters of Matthew Thomas and others found in Colorado Gold and Out of the Crucible. Drawn into the abolitionist cause, Alexander and Matthew help slaves escape on "the Silver Highway" from their masters to freedom in the North. Meanwhile, Matthew's sister Olivia, while attending a boarding school out East, befriends Crystal, a young Creole. Dark rumors and foreboding secrets about Crystal's past threaten to destroy both her present and future.

Predating Colorado Gold and Out of the Crucible, the Story of a Nation and Her People in Conflict.